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Literature vocabulary · Plot and Structure

Deus ex machina

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, deus ex machina means: An unexpected outside intervention that resolves a seemingly unsolvable plot problem.

In Turkish: beklenmedik dış müdahaleyle çözüm, deus ex machina

How it is used

Often critical in reviews: explain why the rescue lacks preparation instead of labeling every surprise this way.

Example sentences

  1. The sudden inheritance feels like a deus ex machina because no earlier scene mentions it.

    An unprepared source of money removes the central problem.

  2. The writer removed the deus ex machina and let the heroine solve the mystery herself.

    Revision gives the resolution to the character's own actions.

Common collocations

  • use a deus ex machina
  • a contrived deus ex machina
  • resolutionThe final part of a story, after the climax, where the main conflict is settled and loose ends are tied up.
  • plotThe series of connected events in a story and the way the writer arranges them, especially how one event causes another.

More terms: Plot and Structure

Practise with graded reading

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